These are outside the obvious picks of pretty much everything released by Michael and Janet Jackson, Madonna, Prince, Duran Duran, Culture Club, Depeche Mode, Erasure, Yaz, and Wham!/George Michael. These albums had heavy rotation in my cassette deck and later CD player. ;)

My favourite female singers with age and birthday (listed chronologic), place of birth (if known), short description (from Wikipedia) and picture (only included for the deceased ones).

(born before 1940)

† Bessie Smith (born April 15, 1894, Chattanooga, Tennessee, U.S., died September 26, 1937), sometimes referred to as "The Empress of the Blues," was the most popular female blues singer of the 1920s and 1930s. She is often regarded as one of the greatest singers of her era and, along with Louis Armstrong, a major influence on subsequent jazz vocalists.http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/_/360355/Bessie+Smith.jpg

† Marlene Dietrich (27 December 1901 – 6 May 1992, Berlin, Germany) was a German-born American actress and singer.Although she still made occasional films in the post-war years, Dietrich spent most of the 1950s to the 1970s touring the world as a successful show performer. In 1999 the American Film Institute named Dietrich the ninth greatest female star of all time. …

a shared Spotify playlist, here. Feel free to add other songs that feature cowbell. And also, yes, we can argue the finer points of what is cowbell and what isn't, but if it sounds like it, it can go in...]

From one of the albums that confirmed the use of sampling as an artform, here's one of the many highlights. Like the rest of the album, picking out all the samples would take all sodding night, but anyway, that's not the point here. This is all about the funky beats, that guitar line. …

I’ve finally done it. Made a post about my favourite voices/singers. I listed them based on my feelings of the moment, but I honestly don't think much would change in general. I tend to be the loyal type and listen to the same people most of my life... with a few exceptions, I guess